Bhopal: The sandalwood thieves are not even hesitating to target the VIP zones of Bhopal. In less than a week, unidentified miscreants axed sandalwood trees from 74-Bungalow and Char Imli area.
On Thursday, Habibganj police booked three unidentified miscreants for felling and stealing sandalwood tree at a small nursery located in front of D-29, a bungalow in Chaar Imli allotted to Makrand Deuskar, an officer on special duty (OSD) to the Chief Minister.
The accused took away the fallen tree on Wednesday night around 1 pm. The three accused were caught on CCTV cameras, carrying sandalwood log on their shoulders. In the middle of the night, the three accused walked away carrying the logs without being questioned by any security person.
Last Friday, some unidentified men had barged into the house of minister Gopal Bhargaw at 74-bungalow area and attempted to steal a sandalwood tree. They axed a tree but hearing security people coming, fled from the spot leaving the log. Nearly, 1.5-months ago in similar manner, the thieves had tried to make away with a tree from a bungalow of Congress MLA Jitu Patwari in Char Imli area.
The two areas targeted by thieves are dotted with bungalows of ministers and senior bureaucrats. The police are clueless about the culprits. The cops believe that the miscreants are from outsiders and come to the capital city for committing sandalwood thefts.
ASP Rajat Saklecha said the accused target only those areas where sandalwood trees are found. There have been similar incidents of theft in Shyamla Hills and police had arrested the culprits. We are quizzing the accused who were arrested earlier, as there are chances that they might be involved in the recent thefts.
